Eleven improvers, and two tons at Lord's
The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket
Steven Lynch22-May-2006The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:
Dilip Vengsarkar scored three hundreds in his first three Tests at Lord’s © Getty Images
I noticed that all Sri Lanka’s batsmen at Lord’s scored more runs in the second innings than they did in their first. How often has this happened in Tests? asked Nirmalan Wigneswaran and Steve Howe
It’s certainly very rare: the instance in the first Test at Lord’s was only the third in Test history. The last time it happened was way back in 1924, when all South Africa’s batsmen bettered their first-innings score second time around against England at Edgbaston. (It wasn’t difficult, as they were all out for 30 in the first innings but made 390 in the second!) England also managed it against Australia at Melbourne in 1894-95. Bangladesh achieved the feat in reverse – everyone scoring more in the first innings than the second – in their inaugural Test, against India at Dhaka in 2000-01.Was Sri Lanka’s total at Lord’s the highest in the second innings of a Test? asked Ajith Gunasinghe from Chilaw
Sri Lanka’s 537 for 9 at Lord’s was their own highest in the second innings of a Test – comfortably beating their 448 for 5 declared against Pakistan earlier this year in Colombo – but it was some way short of the overall Test record, which coincidentally was scored against Sri Lanka. That was New Zealand’s 671 for 4 at Wellington in 1990-91, when Martin Crowe (299) and Andrew Jones (186) shared a record stand of 467. There have been five other second-innings totals of more than 600.Mahela Jayawardene has now played two Tests at Lord’s, and scored two centuries. How many other visiting batsmen have done this? asked Nishan Seneratne from Colombo
The Indian batsman Dilip Vengsarkar uniquely scored centuries in each of his first three Tests at Lord’s, in 1979 (103), 1982 (157) and 1986 (126 not out), before falling short with “only” 52 and 35 in 1990. Only seven other visiting players had scored two Test centuries at Lord’s before Mahela Jayawardene joined them last week. Australia’s Warren Bardsley was the first, with 164 in 1912 and 193 not out 14 years later in 1926, by which time he was 43, but he missed out in his other three Tests at Lord’s; George Headley collected both of his in the same game, with 106 and 107 for West Indies in 1939 (but he had done less well in 1933); the inevitable Don Bradman reached three figures for Australia in 1930 – with 254, which he felt was the best innings he ever played – and 1938, with 102 not out (but he missed out in 1934 and 1948); his fellow Australian Bill Brown made 105 in 1934 and 206 not out 1938 (but also failed to repeat the feat in 1948); Garry Sobers hit 163 not out in 1966, and 150 not out in 1973, but didn’t reach 100 in his other three official Tests at Lord’s; another West Indian, Gordon Greenidge, scored 214 not out in 1984 and 103 in 1988, having missed out in his first two visits, in 1976 and 1980; and finally Martin Crowe hit 106 in 1986 and 142 in 1994 (but did less well in 1983 and 1990). Sobers did, however, slam 183 for the Rest of the World against England at Lord’s in 1970 (he also took 6 for 21!), in what was thought to be a proper Test at the time but was later deemed unofficial. And Greenidge hit 122 against the Rest of the World in the five-day MCC Bicentenary match at Lord’s in 1987.Did Fred Titmus play for England again after his terrible accident? asked Maureen Bird from Southsea
The accident you’re referring to happened during England’s tour of the West Indies in 1967-68. Fred Titmus, the Middlesex offspinner who was Colin Cowdrey’s vice-captain on that trip, lost four toes when his left foot tangled with the propeller of a motor-boat – the propeller was unusually placed in the middle rather than at the back, and Titmus let his legs go underneath the boat while he was holding on to it. He was lucky in one way, in that the big toe – which is important for balance – was virtually undamaged, and he returned to county cricket a couple of months later. It did look, however, as if his England career had stalled after 49 caps – but he received a surprise recall for the 1974-75 tour of Australia, and played four Tests there to take his total to 53, in which he took 153 wickets at 32.22. He made his last appearance for Middlesex in 1982, when he was 49. Titmus joked that “the only real problem the accident left me with was counting – afterwards, I always had trouble going over 16!”When (and where) is the next women’s World Cup? asked Anuka Jain from Delhi
The next one will be played in Australia in 2009, when the Aussies will be defending the trophy that they won for the fifth time at Centurion in South Africa last April. Four years later, in 2013, the tournament will be played in India.Who called his autobiography Beating the Bat? asked James Lee from Crawley
That was the name of the memoirs of Derek Underwood, the Kent and England left-arm bowler who finished up with a tantalising total of 297 Test wickets. The book came out in 1975, when Underwood’s first-class career still had a dozen years to run, so maybe it’s time he wrote another one! Having said that, he did update his story a little in Deadly Down Under, which came out in 1980, but that was mainly an account of England’s tour of Australia the previous winter.